cassette to MP3 capabilities?

[olaness1]

Such capability is really not something out of the box. What you need is a (decent?) tape player with an out post that you can connect to your computer/sound card/mixing desk/whatever sound equipment you've got, then record this through some recording software (audacity is free and pretty good, download here: https://www.audacityteam.org/download/" target="_blank ). Finally do whatever edits you think are necessary (separate movements to separate tracks etc) then convert to mp3. With Audacity you need a plugin for that. When you know what you are doing, it's not as complicated as it sounds!

Hope you have some luck with this. (I'd offer to do it, but I'm in the UK and have not owned a tape player for quite a number of years).

Ola

[timothy42b]

There are lots of fancy ways to do this but here's a quick and dirty one that will work for sure. Given the low quality nature of what you have, I'm not sure you'll do much better.

But first! copy that tape! and work only with the copy. Every play of a cassette tape damages it a little.

Now. Play your tape through your tape deck with the best set of speakers you have. Set your Zoom H2 or equivalent in front of them. Done.

Import into Audacity, normalize, use whatever tools you can find to reduce noise.

[Tim Jackson]

I have the equipment to do it several ways. My favorite is a Phillips CD recorder. Records from analog source - sometimes I hook it to my computer and rip things off youtube.

Lately, I just take it to my local studio and sit and visit with the owner while he makes a copy. Can even eq a little if needed and devide into tracks. It's trade out because when he calls me to lay a trombone, tuba, or bass track I never charge... I just tell him to give me credit.

I love going to the studio... let the pros do it!

Tim Jackson

[Art Hovey]

I could do it for you too.
Here's an example that I did a couple of years ago:
http://www.galvanizedjazz.com/test1/CDs/Conrad.html" target="_blank

[ken k]

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Brand-New-Ta ... e1606d5a3a" target="_blank

kk

[peterbas]

deleted

[Bumeaung50]

Such capability is really not something out of the box. What you need is a (decent?) tape player with an out post that you can connect to your computer/sound card/mixing desk/whatever sound equipment you've got, then record this through some recording software (audacity is free and pretty good, download here: https://www.audacityteam.org/download/" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank ). Finally do whatever edits you think are necessary (separate movements to separate tracks etc) then convert to mp3. With Audacity you need a plugin for that. When you know what you are doing, it's not as complicated as it sounds!

Hope you have some luck with this. (I'd offer to do it, but I'm in the UK and have not owned a tape player for quite a number of years).

Ola

If you are using audacity do you download it on pc or by chrome? Is audacity guides would help me optimize tape sound record to edit and transfer to computer? Thanks!

[Slamson]

If it's a good performance, I'd spend the $$$ to get it done right, and pay a professional. The cassette players that come with these current converters are really cheap and substandard.

Since Nashville's not that far away, I'd suggest you contact John Nicholson at Nashville Tape Transfer Service:
https://www.tape2wav.com" target="_blank" target="_blank

I could do it for you, but I don't think you want to be sending your old tape through the mail. USPS routinely scans packages and the x-rays can damage a tape that's probably already on its last legs, and things get beat up pretty bad.

[hup_d_dup]

USPS routinely scans packages and the x-rays can damage a tape that's probably already on its last legs, and things get beat up pretty bad.

Certainly USPS has its methods to damage packages, but x-rays are not one of them (unless you are sending undeveloped photographic film, and who does that anymore?). X-ray are high energy light waves, and do not damage magnetic material.

Hup

[WC8KCY]

bloke...I've got the proper hi-fi equipment and a dedicated computer to do this sort of project, and have remastered some truly horrible source material into listenable tracks. Lemme know if I can help...

[Joe Stanko]

I have cassettes of many live performances and radio broadcasts. I do the playback on a terrific 19 lb. TEAC V-6030S 4 motor, 3 head cassette deck. The analog output is connected to an M-Audio Delta Audiophile 2496 card for A/D conversion to an HP Z440 PC with 32 gigs of RAM and Xeon processor. I also have a Focusrite with analog input and USB output; editing is with Sound Forge, but Audacity works very well.

Strongly suggest not using a cheap cassette deck - the tape could jam or break, poor motors can produce a wobbly sound, and playback heads are not dedicated as in a three head deck. I play through of both sides of each cassette to have the deck set the pack of the particular cassette. Even taking care, older and cheaper cassettes (poorly machined shells and rollers) can stretch, break or flake.

I record at 44.1 as a .wav for ease of CD burning - if a good copy is digitized, I make 5 backups, each on a different external hard drive. Editing is not done on the "master" but on one of the digital clones.

As I have some unique and rare cassettes - one with multiple live Williams performances - and treat them with great care as well as digiting at the highest level.

[gmcblane]

For a really quick and dirty job, to make sure you have something preserved while exploring alternatives: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/dynex-6-ma ... lsrc=aw.ds" target="_blank" target="_blank

You just need a male to male cable to go from the stereo output from you cassette deck to the "mic in" on your computer. Audacity (free) or other audio software may already have, can capture the 'mic in" and save it to a file. I'd suggest saving the file as one of the lossless formats, in addition to the ubiquitous mp3 format.